Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa ordered military operations on Tuesday against the country’s powerful criminal groups after hooded gunmen stormed a television studio and gangsters threatened to execute security forces and civilians.

Noboa declared the country in a state of “internal armed conflict” just hours after gangsters declared “war” in an escalating security crisis sparked by the prison escape of one of Ecuador’s most powerful criminal bosses.

Que pena todo lo que esta pasando con los hermanos del canal tc televisión, Dios los cuide pic.twitter.com/behRNVacSz

— Emergencias Ec (@EmergenciasEc) January 9, 2024

Long a peaceful haven sandwiched between top cocaine exporters Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has seen violence explode in recent years as enemy gangs with links to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.

“I have ordered the armed forces to carry out military operations to neutralize these groups,” Noboa wrote on social media.

His comments came shortly after attackers carrying rifles and grenades stormed the studio of TC television in the port city of Guayaquil as a woman was heard amid gunshots pleading: “Don’t shoot, please don’t shoot.”

The intruders forced terrified crew onto the ground, and a person could be heard screaming in apparent pain as the studio lights went off, but the live broadcast continued.

“Please, they came in to kill us. God don’t let this happen. The criminals are on air,” a TC employee told AFP in a WhatsApp message.

After about 30 minutes of chaos, officers were seen entering the studio while someone then called out that they “have a wounded companion.”

Earlier Tuesday, gangsters kidnapped police officers and set off explosives in several cities in response to a 60-day state of emergency and nighttime curfew declared by Noboa.

– ‘You will get war’ –

Noboa, 36, was elected in October on a pledge to fight rampant drug-related crime and violence in the South American country — once considered a bastion of peace, but now a key stop on the US- and Europe-bound cocaine trade.

He vowed Monday to bring the fight to the cartels after a powerful gang leader, Jose Adolfo Macias, known as “Fito,” escaped from prison the previous day.

On Tuesday, the gangs hit back.

Authorities reported multiple explosions and said seven police officers had been kidnapped.

A chilling video circulating on social media showed three of the kidnapped officers sitting on the ground with a gun pointed at them as one is forced to read a statement addressed to Noboa.

“You declared war, you will get war,” the clearly terrified officer reads. “You declared a state of emergency. We declare police, civilians and soldiers to be the spoils of war.”

The statement added that anyone found on the street after 11:00 pm (0500 GMT) “will be executed.”

The presidency and metro stations in Quito were under military guard on Tuesday.

Police say an explosive device was thrown near a police station in Esmeraldas on the northwest coast and two vehicles were burned in other areas, with no one killed or injured.

In Quito, a car was reportedly blown up, and a device exploded near a pedestrian bridge.

– ‘Return peace to all Ecuadorans’ –

A manhunt is under way for Fito, who had been serving a 34-year sentence for organized crime, drug trafficking and murder.

The 44-year-old leader of the powerful Los Choneros gang is believed to have escaped just hours before police arrived to conduct an inspection of the Guayaquil prison where he was held.

On Tuesday, officials said another narco boss — Los Lobos leader Fabricio Colon Pico — has also escaped since his arrest last Friday for alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate Ecuador’s attorney general.

Unrest broke out Monday at penitentiaries in six of Ecuador’s 24 provinces, according to Ecuador’s prison authority SNAI, with guards taken hostage at some of the facilities.

Heavily armed police and soldiers entered the prisons of El Oro, Loja, Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Azuay and Pichincha, after which the military distributed images of half-naked inmates rounded up in courtyards.

The SNAI has not revealed whether the guards have since been released.

Noboa said the uprisings appeared to be revenge for his actions to “regain control” of the country’s prisons.

On Monday, he vowed to “not negotiate with terrorists nor rest until we return peace to all Ecuadorans.”

Drug violence has taken a heavy toll on the country.

The murder rate quadrupled from 2018 to 2022, while last year became the most violent yet with more than 7,800 homicides in the country of about 17 million people and 220 tons of drugs seized, a new record.

Since February 2021, clashes between prisoners have left more than 460 dead, many beheaded or burnt alive.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Nidhin Valsan, Superintendent of Police, North Goa on Tuesday said that the accused woman, who allegedly killed her minor son in a Goa hotel, seemed unhappy with the recent court order that permitted her husband to spend time with their child on Sunday.

Police official said that the accused and her husband have been involved in divorce proceedings since 2022.

“Goa court remands mother to six-day police custody. The father identified the boy and he said that they got married in 2010 and their divorce proceedings started in 2022. Recently, the court issued an order to spend time with the father on Sunday. During interrogation with our investigating officers, the accused woman seemed to be unhappy with the court order,” SP Valsan told ANI.

Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a start-up company in Bengaluru has been arrested for allegedly murdering her four-year-old son at a hotel in Goa, police said on Tuesday.

The accused has been identified as Suchana Seth.

Police said that the accused woman was caught in Karnataka’s Chitradurga district while trying to flee in a cab with her son’s body stuffed in a bag.

“A woman asked the hotel staff to arrange a taxi for Bengaluru.After the checkout, when the hotel staff went to clean the room, they found red-colored stains which they assumed to be blood. The staff immediately informed the police,” said Nidhin Valsan, Superintendent of Police, North Goa.

Police further stated upon its inquiry, the woman told officials that she had left her son at a friend’s place in Goa.

Goa court has remanded the accused to six-day police custody.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Zoya Akhtar’s The Archies launched a fresh bunch of debutants and it was a refreshing ride indeed. Since then, the young and upcoming stars have been clicked every time they’ve stepped out in the city. Khushi Kapoor and Vedang Raina who essayed the roles of Betty and Reggie respectively have been rumoured to be dating since the announcement of The Archies.

The two have refused to comment on it but are often clicked going out on dinner dates and events together quite frequently. Last evening they were seen arriving at an upscale restaurant in the city. While Khushi Kapoor looked chic in a white top and brown leather skirt, Vedang kept it casual with denim and a black shirt.

Check out the pictures here: